“I do,” she answered. How could she forget? She’d been in love with Raylen O’Donnell since she was fourteen years old.

“Haskell said that if you didn’t like it here, he’d sell me your twenty acres,” he blurted out.

“That won’t happen, and you sure are blunt,” she said as she scanned the living room that was exactly like she remembered it, down to the well-worn leather sofa and hassock where she’d snuggled in to read romance books about cowboys the last time she was there. “I’m going to live here. Uncle Haskell said if I like it, he’ll deed the place over to me in the spring. The place isn’t for sale and won’t ever be.”

“And do what? Ringgold isn’t very big.” Raylen’s tone was filled with exasperation.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Pet the cat. Feed the dog.”

“That won’t make a living, lady,” Raylen said.

She propped both hands on her hips. “I don’t reckon what I do for a living is one bit of your business, cowboy.” Never in all the scenarios that she’d imagined had he been cross with her like this. He’d kissed her. He’d swept her off her feet and carried her to a big white pickup truck and they’d driven off into the Texas sunset. He’d smiled and said that he remembered her well and she’d grown up into a beautiful woman. But he hadn’t argued.

She brushed against his chest as she headed into the kitchen to make herself a glass of tea. She’d had Raylen on a pedestal for more than a decade and he didn’t even recognize her. He was probably married and had three or four kids too. That was the way her luck ran, so why should today be any different?

When she fanned past him, she got a whiff of his cologne—the same kind he’d worn all those years ago.

“I’ll take over feeding the cat and dog,” she said. “Thanks for what you’ve done until I could get here.”

He dug into his pocket and handed her an old key ring with two keys on it. “Welcome to Ringgold, Liz. I still live on the ranch that surrounds this land. Haskell sold me most of his ranch six months ago, all but the part the house sits on.”

“He told me,” she said as she opened the nearly empty refrigerator and took out half a pitcher of sweet tea.

Raylen headed for the door. “The O’Donnells are your closest neighbors. Come around to see us sometime. Be seein’ you.”

She wanted to say something, but not one word would come out of her mouth. Raylen in her living room, looking even sexier than he had when he was seventeen and exercising the horses. Raylen all grown up, a man instead of a lanky teenager, was such a shock and a surprise that she was speechless. And that was strange territory for Lizelle Hanson.

“Dammit!” She stomped her foot and popped the heel off one of her shoes.